NIGERIA IS MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAM AT THE U-17 LEVEL, SO WHAT?


I guess my very first experience of the glamour and ecstasy of victory in Nigeria's winning of the U-17 world cup was in the 2007 world U-17 world cup in Seoul, South Korea. At that point, my joy knew no bounds and I was at best overwhelmed because to my under enlightened young mind, that Nigerian team that won the cadet world cup was the best thing after the invention of sliced bread.                                                                              

This very Golden Eaglets team had shining stars like Captain, Haruna Lukman, Goal Machine, Chrysanthus Macaulay, Midfield Supremo, Yakubu Alfa, Rabiu Ibrahim who was described as the natural heir to Jay-Jay Okocha's throne in the Super Eagles, and so many other wonderful players whom analysts described as the future of Nigerian football.               Really, even as me and my father celebrated this victory, we dismissed and tried to rationalize the fact that a then 17 year old Chrysanthus Macaulay was already married with a son. In fact, my father told me that being married at 17 with a son was normal among his people of Taraba State.                                                                                                      

 The older I got, I started trying to understand why as it stands now, there is no member of that 2007 Golden Eaglets team that is a regular in the Super Eagles except Rabiu who at best is a bit part player in the Super Eagles. Like My Lecturer would always say, 'it must not escape mention that' in that 2007 under-17 world cup, Nigeria beat Germany by two goals to nothing in the semi final stage. That German team was led by a certain Tony Kroos who now plays for Real Madrid and is also a world cup winner with the German senior national team. Virtually every football enthusiast in Nigeria knows about Tony Kroos but how many of us remembers Chrisanthus who scored 9 goals and won the golden boot at that 2007 cadet world cup?                                                                                                                       

 Need I also talk about the 2009 golden eaglets team that played in the under 17 world cup that was hosted in Nigeria? That team had a certain Stanley Okoro who was described as the next Messi. I must not also fail to point out that at that point, I started growing disillusioned with Nigeria's attitude towards always winning the U-17 world cup because this Stanley Okoro had alleged he was 16 years old and I cant say he wasnt but it beats my imagination how a 16 year old could be a professional of about three years in the Nigerian Premier League with one of the elite teams, Heartland FC of Owerri and even a CAF Champions League final experience. Well, Nigeria got to the finals of that tournament though they lost to Switzerland. On our way to the finals, we humiliated the Spanish team by 3-nil in the Semi Finals. Again, Spain had a certain Isco who now plays for Real Madrid while Nigeria had a certain Stanley Okoro who is in God knows where.                              

 My point is clear; there appears to be a certainty that Nigeria uses over aged players already in their prime in age grade tourneys and when the time comes for them to star for the super Eagles and replicate the same form at the senior level, they fail because they are already past their prime. If it were not so, I see no reason why we would do so well at the age grade level and then struggle to get to just the quarter finals of the senior world cup.      Honestly, I'm not impressed at this win it all attitude because the essence of age grade competitions is to develop champions and not to win at all cost.

Even as Nigeria is playing against Brazil at the moment in the quarter finals of the 2015 U-17 world cup, I wont watch it because I don't want to see 'stars' that would fizzle out in the next 5 years. It is also a clarion call to the Nigerian Football Federation to ensure that players of the right ages represent us at age grade tourneys, and also to ensure the proper management of each of these players so that by the next Senior world cup, this team would be properly represented in the Super Eagles.
We might as well win this one for a record time but after this, what next?
The World is Watching!

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